In cold blood: Butchered woman in Garden East identified

Police claim that they have almost solved the case.

KARACHI: When the authorities found 37-year-old Nasreen’s butchered body in four different places within a two kilometre radius of the Aga Khan Jamaatkhana, they had no idea who had done it or why.

On Saturday, investigators claimed that they were close to solving the case. After they identified the woman as Nasreen, the mother of five children who used to work at a hospital, they investigated the family and recorded their statements. Now, they are waiting for her cell phone records to determine who killed her.

What they found out

Nasreen was a Christian from Faisalabad who converted to Islam soon after her first son was born. She lived in a rented apartment in Quaidabad with her husband, a mechanic, and children, Iqbal, 18, works as a mechanic in his father’s garage while the others are still in school.

According to Nasreen’s 15-year-old son Farooq, on March 10 she asked him to take the house keys with him to school as she had to run some errands and would come home late.

Farooq claimed that he refused to do so and went to school. Two hours later Nasreen left the keys for her son at school with a note saying that she had to go to the airport for work. Unfortunately, her family never saw her again.

Nasreen’s other son, Mustafa, told the police that he overheard his mother talking on the phone the day before she was killed. She asked the person on the other line if he had arrived from Rawalpindi and told him to meet her at Mazaar-e-Quaid the following day.

Nasreen’s husband, Mohammad Shareef, said that his wife used to live with a relative named Javed before they got married. Javed, a rickshaw driver, was Shareef’s friend and had arranged the marriage. He added that they had spent two years in Rawalpindi and had returned four years ago.

Soldier Bazaar police station’s additional SHO and investigating officer, Sarfaraz Aliyana, told The Express Tribune that the investigation suggested that Nasreen was seeing someone and he might be responsible for the murder.

“In cases such as this one, it is either the husband or lover,” he said. “So far the investigation shows that the husband was not involved.” The officer added that Shareef believed that Nasreen was unfaithful to him.

According to the SHO, the suspect was still in the city.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2012.